The Revolution of Digitization

Mass digitization has become a real cultural phenomenon in recent years. With the rapid advancement of today’s technology, our society has evolved to adapt to the high speed of a modern, digital world.

The replacement of a large number of human services with artificial intelligence and computers has contributed to a greater satisfaction of clients but it has also sparked negative backlash and controversies. So, is digitization always positive? How far will we “digitize” and when is the limit to stop before it’s too late?

Personally, my first striking encounter with with digitization was when I visited the Netherlands for the first time. During my trip I had the sudden urge to visit a bank and I was unpleasantly surprised that the Dutch closed all their affiliates in order to “make it easier for the clients”. So, basically the only way to get the answers to your questions is to visit the bank’s website.

Not long ago, I also stumbled upon the new McDonald’s self-service machines. Instead of waiting hours in line to order your menu, these large machines, which resemble big touchscreens, are used as an alternative to traditional in-line-food-ordering. I really liked this concept because it drastically reduced the long time I have to wait in queue to get my food.

The problem with this kind of digization is that it will steal the jobs of millions of working-class employees, that heavily rely on their small paychecks to provide food and shelter to their families. Automatization of technology will always be ruthless to the lower spectrum of the social classes.

A more positive form of life-changing technology is the sharing of digital media. When I was born back in 1998, music and video files could only be shared via video-tapes and audio cassettes. These were later replaced by CD’s and DVD’s. Nowadays, music and films can be downloaded entirely on the internet (iTunes, Amazon) or via online streaming (Spotify, Apple music, YouTube).

The internet is also a great place for digitalized communcation. Social media has become the number one communication tool of our generation. Platforms such as Skype, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat make it much easier (and cheaper) to chat, to set-up meetings or to share photos. Via this big, digital world, everyone on Earth is connected in the expanding universe what we call the internet.

All in all, digitization is a process, designed to nurture the capitalistic needs of the wealthy, to win more money for less effort. Digitization, however, is also a sign of progress, of technological advancement. It can have many positive consequences for the society but it can also be poisonous for others. Before we start digitizing everything, we should first ask ourselves the question: “Is it really worth it?”, because some people’s lives will depend on your decision…

The Significance of Music in Our Lives

Music is a wildly popular form of art and cultural activity that consists of sound organized in time. Being embedded in each and everyone’s life to a certain degree, music has played a huge role in the development of human civilization. Music comes in different styles and forms and each person has their own unique taste. So why is music such an important medium of entertainment for so many people? Why do people listen to music in the first place?

First of all, music can affect our lives by being a source of light in dark times. By escaping the harsh reality of everyday life, music can help you to heal open wounds. Sometimes life is difficult and people find refuge by entering a different world, by listening to music to take their mind off everyday problems.

Break-ups between romantic partners or friends, for example, can be really hard and agonizing. To cope with the pain, people often engage in listening to music to heal, to meditate or to just further nourish their emotional state. Personally, songs like “Black” by Pearl Jam or “Schism” by Tool are some of the most powerful songs when life is at its lowest. Furthermore, people might like to listen to songs to enter a new reality, a different world, usually to escape their boring, routine and monotonous existence: for me, such songs can be “Lady” by Modjo or “Paradise” by Coldplay.

Music is also a form of art, the creation of a person’s soul and mind. Just like paintings or drawings, music has its own meaning and it can be appreciated and interpreted in many different ways. Music is more about feelings and emotions and less about understanding and rationalizing. This is why I really like more experimental stuff, that mainly consists of instrumentals and lacks lyrics: songs like “Soothsayer” by Buckethead and “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Grieg

With the technoligical advancement of mankind and the arrival of the internet, listening to music has never been as easy and as accessible as it is nowadays. However, I personally think that now that music is so easy to access, people are afraid to dive deeper in the huge diversity of songs and prefer to scratch the surface, to only consume what the masses consume: songs from the Billboard Top 100 or other “popular” charts.

The problem with pop music is not that it is bad, there are many pop-songs that I really enjoy, like Adele’s “Hello“. The problem with a large quantity of pop-songs is that they are really similar: they are radio-friendly, heavily commercialized, have uninspiring lyrics, follow basic music structures and use a lot of auto-tune (see “Friday” by Rebecca Black).

Also, hip-hop and rap music can be a really bad influence for our children, mostly because it often incorporates a lot of profanity, hypersexualization and/or drug & alcohol use, just like Gery-Nikol – “Gotina & Luda” or Nicky Minaj’s “Anaconda“. On the other hand, hip-hop songs can be really inspiring and meaningful, justifying the use of profanity/drugs because they are created to be real art and not just radio singles: see “Changes” by Tupac.

All in all, music should be about creating something original, something from the heart and from the soul. For me, music is not about showing off posessions, money or how much weed you smoke. But at the end of the day, everyone should decide by themselves what kind of music they like. Music is a form of art that is created to be enjoyed and that is the most important thing.

The Law of Nature – Stop-Motion Animation

Hello everyone!

As an avid fan of music in general, I enjoy other types of art aswell. I first gained an appreciation for stop-motion animation during my short stay in the Netherlands. In art class, our task was to create a short, 30 second long stop-motion animation. Needless to say, I found the challenge intriguing and had a lot of fun making it.

My love for stop-motion animation was further nourished when I first started listening to the band Tool. Adam Jones, the band’s guitarst, is also the key creator of their videos, which are based on the stop-motion formula. Their gritty style and surreal feeling totally caught my attention. The video for “Sober” is a great example.

Creating such a stop-motion animation, however, is not quite as easy as it might sound or look. It is a long and tedious process of perfectionalizing every shot, every take. Making even one little mistake will have a negative effect on the end-product, so it is necessary to work as careful and concentrated as possible. This can take a VERY long time to accomplish, even for a short, 30-second video. It took me and my classmate an hour of coming up with the idea, 3 hours of preparing the materials and 2 hours of filming. Luckily, it is enjoyable to do, so the time was spent wisely.

Our idea was to create something abstract, something very simple, yet original. Something that was stripped of a traditional meaning, yet something that made you think, made you feel. So, we thought about the most basic geometric shapes, the building blocs of everything: triangles and squares. We thought about how life is an endless cycle of construction and destriction, chaos and order. I plan on studying biology, so a huge inspiration for this project were enzymes: how they move, how they work, how they create and destroy.

Of course, when you look at our video below you might only see some weird, funny-looking shapes, moving in a strange way. That is totally acceptable, because art can be interpreted in different ways and to be fair, it looks pretty simple and hasty. Hopefully, you will enjoy our creation as much as we enjoyed making it.

 

Sepultura – Ratamahatta

Raw, Tribal, Absolutely  fantastic!

Sepultura is a Brazillian heavy-metal band formed in 1984. Their hit song Ratamahatta from their album “Roots” is absolutely amazing and I thought I would share it with you guys.

I don’t have a clear idea on what the song is about, because I don’t speak Portuguese very well. Judging by interpretantions from the web, it is about the slums in Brazil. Basically about how hard it is to live there, how povery is considered incurable because the government is corrupted. The title “Ratamahatta” refers to “Rat Manhattan” or “Manhaattan for rats”. In other words, the people in the slums are treated like parasitic animals in their own country and their own city.

I really enjoyed the tribal sound of the song. The idea of incorporating more traditional and folk-related elements in metal songs is not so popular and in my honest opinion: it should be. It adds a new, original layer of sound that feels really satisfying.

Rage Against the Machine – Know Your Enemy

The mind of a revolutionary

Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band formed in 1991. It consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, drummer Brad Wilk and bassist Tim Commerford. The group is credited with their revolutionary views, which are expressed in many of their songs, including Know Your Enemy from their debut self-titled album.

Rage Against the Machine incorporates a unique sound, which consists of the fusion genres rap and rock. Zack de la Rocha expresses his radical revolutionary rhymes and harsh vocals and Tom Morello plays alongside him with his signature guitar-riffs, that oftentimes don’t even sound like they are produced by a guitar.

The song is about is about how the “system” is corrupted and how we must unify and fight it together. We should start a revolution and ditch the capitalist system that has given few people control over many, they are the “enemy”.

Fun fact: the person singing in the bridge is actually Maynard James Keenan from Tool

Soundgarden – Spoonman

Good feelings, good vibes

Soundgarden is rock band formed in 1984. They are known to be one of the leading acts of the 90s Seattle music scene and are considered to be the grandfathers of grunge music. Their music has personally affected my life in a lot of ways and Chis Cornell’s sudden tragic death in 2017 caught me off-guard. Here is one of their best songs: Spoonman from the album “Superunknown”.

According to the man himself, the song is about Artis the Spoonman, a musician, who makes music using spoons as an instrument. The underlying sentiment, however, is that rhythm and music have healing properties. How music plays a huge role in our lives and how we must embrace it.

Spoonman is a song with a great, positive vibe and good feelings. You can use it to rock your socks-off, or to simply lay-back and relax for a moment.

 

 

Linkin Park feat. Jay Z – Points of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer

Rhymes & Screams

 

Linkin Park are one of the leading acts in the Nu-metal scene. They have been around since the late 90s and continue making music today, even after lead vocalist Chester Bennigton’s death in 2017. During their career they have collaborated with numerous artists and even made a whole mashup album called “Collision Course” with east-coast rap legend Jay-Z.

The best song from that album is in my opinion “Points of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer”. It is a great combination of Jay-z’s rapping and Linkin Park’s great rock/electronica style. I was amazed at how good the final product turned out to be. That, of course, shouldn’t be a surprise, because bands like Rage Against The Machine and Body Count are the evidence that rap and rock blend perfectly.

Jay-Z’s harsh lyrics, Mike Shinoda’s amazing flow, Chester Bennington’s primal screams and the violent guitars all come together to form one bad-ass rocking song. I would recommend this song to all rock and hip-hop fans: it’s a treat you will definitely enjoy!

 

Misfits – Dig Up Her Bones

Spooky, yet beautiful 


This next track is by one of rock music’s most intriguing bands: The Misfits. As pretty much the inventors of the genre horror-punk, The Misfits combine elements of heavy-metal, hardcore punk and, as the name suggests, horror elements both visually and lyrically (e.g. death, skulls, face paint). They are not known for using really complicated music structures, instead they focus more on the melody and how it will sound as a whole.


The lyrics are pretty much straightforward, no complicated metaphors or symbols are used to express the main theme of the song: a guy misses his dead girlfriend/wife and since he can’t get to her in heaven, he chooses the quicker route to her, which is by entering the cemetary with a shovel to “Dig Up Her Bones”.


As for the music, it is really simple yet it sounds fantastic. Only a few down-tuned power chords are used by the band’s guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein to form the main, iconic riff of the song. On the other hand, Michale Grave’s haunting voice is also very good and fits in perfectly with The Misfits’s vibe.


All in all, if you are looking for one kick-ass song for Halloween, then “Dig Up Her Bones” is the song for you. It is short and simple but at the same time also terrifying, in-your-face and vibey. I would recommend everyone to give it a listen. Trust me, you won’t regret it!

 

The Doors – Riders On The Storm

A calming song for the blue times

 

If you are feeling down for some reason or if you are simply in a stressful situation (maybe an upcoming exam or meeting), then this Doors classic is the song for you.

Jim Morrison’s soothing voice, the harmonic keyboard, the rhytmic base and the warm raindrops in the background form one mesmerizing atmosphere, that leaves the listener hypnotized by its beauty.

The song is about how life is unpredictable and how we are just a small part of a largely chaotic universe. We are basically just “riders on the storm”, drifting through life and its disharmonic nature. It leaves a sense of melancholic hopelessness, but in a neutral, accepting way.

“Into this house we’re born, into this world we’re thrown
like a dog without a bone, an actor out on loan”  

 

 

Lycée français n° 9 Alphonse de Lamartine

Моята Гимназия

При създаването си през 1961 г. френската гимназия се помещава в квартал „Надежда“. За учебната 1963 г. се настанява в настоящата си сграда на булевард „Патриарх Евтимий“ в центъра на София, в
сградата на 9-та политехническа гимназия.
Последният випуск на политехническата гимназия завършва през 1965 г. и гимназията остава 9-та Френска езикова. От 1977 г. се откриват и паралелки с испански език, които през 1991 г. са преместени в новосъздадената 164-та испанска езикова гимназия „Мигел де Сервантес“

През 1976 г. Френската гимназия е наградена с орден „Кирил и Методий“ I степен, а през 1977 г. е определена за асоциирано училище към ЮНЕСКО. При историческата си визита в България през 1989 г.президентът на Франция Франсоа Митеран специално посещава Френската гимназия, където интересните и непринудени разговори с учениците и учителите го задържат повече от предвиденото по протокола време.

От началото на 90-те години гимназията носи името на френския благородник, поет, дипломат и политик Алфонс дьо Ламартин (1790-1869), който е пребивавал в България през 1832 г.

Френската гимназия владее утвърдени традиции и успешно въздействие в обучението по френски език. Интензивното изучаване на езика се извършва по програма, включваща 20 часа по френски седмично в 8-ми клас и от 6 до 8 часа в класовете след 8-ми. Предметите история, география, биология и химия, се изучават и на френски език. През петте години на обучение се овладява задълбочено и хронологично френската литература и култура в различни нейни жанрове.

Девизът на училището „Френската защото сме заедно!“ е декларация на единство. В половинвековното развитие на гимназията се утвърждава приемствеността много преподаватели и сподвижници са и нейни възпитаници и така паметта за миналото става и завет към бъдещето. В годините след основаването на гимназията до френският език по популярност се нареждат и другите западни езици.

Влизането във „Френската“ винаги остава трудно. Ежегодно балът е съизмерим с този в останалите елитни столични гимназии. Това обяснява, че стимулът за кандидатстване в голяма степен се дължи на заслуженото уважение към гимназията и на завещаната вяра в нея от редица поколения. Френската гимназия има своя атмосфера, способстваща изграждането на идентичността на младите хора и опознаването от тях на националната и световна история, на обществените стойности и потребности.

Съвременната учебна работа в 9 Френска езикова гимназия е съобразена с Европейската референтна рамка ключови компетентности, които трябва да притежава младия европеец днес, където са отбелязани математическа и дигитална способност и основни познания в природните науки. Гимназията има самостоятелна интернет платформа и в обучението се прилагат новости от информационните технологии. Усилията на колегията са насочени за приобщаване към модернизирането на системите за образование и обучение и ориентиране на своите възпитаници към дейно участие в процеса за подобряване на качеството на живота и за издигане на конкурентноспособността на България във всички отрасли.

В полето на традициите на Френската гимназия е събрано почитание към изкуствата. Всяка година се представя театрална постановка по различни пиеси от класически автори. Училището има хор. Практикуват се и часове по фотография, правят се вътрешни конкурси и изложби по стените на училището.

Волейболният отбор на гимназията участва в престижната лига за купа „Кларис“, която обединява елитните столични гимназии, а футболният отбор е участник в Българската училищна футболна лига. Училището има изяви и в спортовете баскетбол, ски, тенис, плуване, тенис на маса, шахмат.

Френската гимназия осъществява образователен и културен обмен с франкофонски училища от Европа. Начинания на училището се ползват с подкрепата на Френския културен институт в София. Във Френската гимназия работят опитни и висококвалифицирани преподаватели. Сред тях са автори на учебници и методически публикации, радетели на творчески контакти със СУ и други висши училища, редовни участници в национални образователни конференции и активни членове на гилдийни сдружения. В методическите обединения се достигат успешни резултати в подготовката и реализирането на проекти насърчаващи доближаването на талантливите ученически пориви до реални цели.

Учителите по френски език са преминали специализации по цивилизация и културни процеси на Франция. Част от преподавателите по френски език са французи. Резултат от дейността на училищния екип е успешното продължаване на образованието на възпитаниците на гимназията в български, френски и други европейски и световни университети.

Хиляди са свързалите биографиите си с 9 Френска езикова гимназия, които са осъзнали красотата на света и са развили своята духовност тук.